#17: Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust

I decided to go citrus-themed this week.  I did consider doing a Key Lime Pie but I also know that people get very weird if you don't use key limes from FL.  So, instead of going down that road, I decided to do a plain ol' Lime Pie, which lead me to this interesting recipe from the Magnolia Bakery -- Lime Pie with Gingersnap Crust.

The hardest part of this pie has nothing to do with the recipe.  Really?!  A cup of lime juice.  Man!  Prepare to work your arms because it's hard to get juice out of a lime.  I guess it's something to consider then picking out the limes -- look for fruit with a little give when you squeeze it.  If you estimate a tablespoon of juice from each lime...that would be at least 8 limes...round it up to a dozen just to be safe.

On the bright side, your arms are probably thankful that you're also not rolling out a pastry for this pie.

Unfortunately, the oddest thing about this pie is the filling/crust combo.  While ginger seems like a great fit for lime, the cookie's heavy molasses flavor is an odd third wheel that can't be easily ignored.

If I make this pie again, a graham cracker crust would be a safer pairing.  But don't feel bad for that gingersnap crust because I do think it would go great with last week's custard pie.

#16: Custard Pie

So this week I wanted to tackle something simple, which lead me to my Betty Crocker Cookbook where I found this Custard Pie recipe.

What I thought was most wonderful about this recipe was the part that said "place pastry-lined pie plate on oven rack; pour in filling."  It seemed like an odd request but as soon as I did it became so obvious.  While it wasn't specifically called out, this small action was a grief saver.  The filling went to the very edge of the crust and didn't leave a lot of wiggle room to transport the pie from counter to oven.  However, by filling the pie on the oven rack, the pie only had to be moved inches rather than feet.  BRILLIANT!

The pie itself was also a great pie...super easy and good.  But the biggest treat was that small piece of advice.

#15: Strawberry Double Crust Pie

I still have strawberries on the brain.  This time, though, I wanted a cooked pie.  So I found this recipe from Magnolia Bakery.

The odd thing about any pie that features red fruit...when it comes out of the oven, it looks like it's been stabbed -- which I guess would make this a great pie for a Halloween party.

My sweet tooth thought this pie could be sweeter.  But everyone else I spoke to (including my very honest husband) said it was perfect.

So I decided to top the pie with whipped cream.  This added sweetness to the pie to meet my liking.  Plus, it hid what looked like bleeding stab wounds leaking from the top of the pie.  BONUS!

#14: Fresh Strawberry Pie

So strawberries are finally in season and...more importantly...on sale!

I figured the best was to celebrate strawberries was to make a fresh strawberry pie and to do that I went with a recipe from America's Test Kitchen.

However, I opted to use a graham cracker crust for two reasons -- 1) I wanted to add a little sweetness to the pie and 2) I wanted to add a little crunch with each bite.  The graham cracker crust seemed like the best way to make this happen.

As for execution, this was a pretty fail-proof recipe.  I even let me 4 year-old help...which is a HUGE sign.  :o)

The results were awesome.  Yes, this pie is hard to plate but the flavor is over the top and a dollop of whipped cream hides all flaws.